1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pedestrian safety device, and in particular, a pedestrian safety device deployed from automotive vehicles to mitigate collisions between pedestrians and vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention concerns an extended vehicle bumper-type apparatus that is designed to ride in front of a vehicle to buffer a collision between a vehicle and a pedestrian. Automotive vehicle bumper systems have always been designed primarily to absorb impact forces which may be generated during collisions between the automobile and a fixed structure such as a wall or other object with an unintended collision. Further, bumper systems and other impact absorption devices have been designed over the years to lessen impact forces generated between the collision of vehicles, normally at a slower speed. Such systems have been designed to allow controlled collapse of the bumper so that parking lot incidents or other slow speed collisions would have as little an economic impact as possible in the repair of the vehicle. Bumper systems are typically constructed of high strength metal frames, which are covered by flexible plastic material, and supported frequently by shock absorbing dampers, or other absorbers to deflect the impact or to allow as little damage as possible to occur to the bumper at a slow speed unintended impact.
While previous bumper designs, and those of the present art, have been effective in minimizing damage in vehicle to vehicle collisions or collisions between vehicles and fixed objects, pedestrian impacts have always been a serious concern and have not been well addressed. In many countries where there is far more pedestrian traffic on most streets than automobile traffic having an effective pedestrian collision avoidance or mitigation system would be desirable.
In some vehicle collisions with upright pedestrians, bumpers may contact with the pedestrians first through the front bumper of a vehicle, thereby concentrating much of the collision force in a narrow area, usually causing significant injury to the pedestrian in the area of the legs.
Bumpers have also been developed with additional cushion to reduce damaging impact with pedestrians, but one of the problems of such modified bumper design is it tends to increase the repair costs resulting from low speed impacts. A vehicle structure that is more pedestrian-friendly often conflicts with other customer requirements, such as increased bumper durability, styling and high speed aerodynamics. There are many systems which attempt to shift a bumper assembly in vertical orientation with the vehicle, or extend it out further while the vehicle is operating in an attempt to change the front geometry of the vehicle to make it more pedestrian friendly in the event of an unintended collision.
However, there is a need in the art to provide a simpler, less expensive solution for special applications which would require simpler technology to provide a vehicle pedestrian collision mitigation system to soften the impact of a collision with a pedestrian. Simple technology which is easily adaptable to existing automobiles of various sizes is needed to allow vehicles of all types to be retrofitted with a pedestrian collision safety system, if desired by the operator.